How to Connect a Stereo System

Setting Up a Stereo System:

A Step-by-Step Guide to a Simple System

I must confess that when I started, I didn’t know how to set up a basic stereo system.

I knew the red wires went in the red holes, black wires in the black holes, and that was about it!

Well, everyone starts from somewhere and after assembling and disassembling numerous demo stereo systems I learned pretty quickly the ins and outs of a stereo system and how everything works together to make your music sound the best it possibly can.

What I realized is a lot of people who come to our store looking for a stereo system may not have the slightest clue how to set one up.

Understandably, they have not had many years of experience connecting stereo equipment on an almost daily basis to learn how to do it themselves.

My goal is to walk you through how to hook up a simple stereo system so you can enjoy listening to your favorite music, whether you listen to CDs, MP3s, radio, records, or any combination.

What do you need to set up a stereo system?

Having worked in the audio/video business for the past few years, I’m no stranger to hooking up a stereo system. On an almost daily basis, I’m connecting or disconnecting receivers, CD players, record players, or whatever so I take for granted how easy it is for me to do so after all this time.

Again, many people don’t know what you need to do to connect a good, basic stereo setup and that knowledge isn’t something people are just born with (or else I wouldn’t be writing this!).

So, before I dive into any lengthy explanations, here’s a simple list of everything you need for a basic stereo system:

A/V stand or shelf – Any piece of furniture with shelves will do, as long as you can run wire between each shelf.

This isn’t an end-all, be-all list of requirements. Each stereo system is unique and can get way more complicated pretty quickly, depending on your listening requirements. However, a basic setup like this will give you great sound for whatever you listen to.

How to hook up a stereo system in 5 steps

Now that you have all your equipment, it’s time to start building it into your personal music machine! (See the pictures below for a visual aid! They will walk you through these steps to make it easier to understand.)

1. To start, it helps a great deal to draw a picture of what you are connecting. Just like the blueprint to a house, a diagram of your stereo system will help you visualize what you’re working towards. Draw all of your equipment (speakers, receiver, and sources) and then draw the connections between them. Basically, your sources will connect to the receiver, and then the receiver goes to the speakers.

2. Set up your equipment where you want it to go. Figure out where you want to put your speakers. How will you run the cables in between everything? Should you put your CD player on top of the receiver to make it easier to reach the disc tray? Do you need to make room for a turntable? Think of how you will use the system the most and what will be most comfortable for you.

Here’s a rear view of the stereo receiver and CD player with the many connections available.

3. Connect the audio output from your first source (a CD player, for instance) to an audio input on your receiver with your cables. The red cable will plug into the red holes, and the white cable will plug into the white holes. Which audio input do you use on the receiver? Try to match it to the name. So, if you’re hooking up a CD player, you’ll plug your audio cables into the “CD” input on your receiver.

Plug in the audio cable into the CD player’s audio output (top picture) and then plug the other end into the stereo receiver’s CD audio input (bottom picture).

4. Run your speaker wire from the receiver to your speakers. Look for the speaker terminals (red and black) and stick the wire in there. Some receivers may have clips that you push down to stick the wire in; others you may have to unscrew a cap to stick the wire in and screw it back down again. You’ll have to do the same thing at the speakers. Make sure your speaker wires are not too tight as this could cause problems later on. Give yourself enough slack to connect everything comfortably! Pro tip: label your speaker wires and cables where you connect them into the receiver because if you have to disconnect your receiver for any reason, you’ll be able to quickly identify which cables go where.

Connect the speaker wires from the terminals on the receiver (top picture) to the inputs on the back of the speakers (bottom picture).

Here’s a rear view shot of your receiver with all the connections you’ve made. Here, your CD player is connected on the left side, while your speakers are connected to the terminals on the right side.

5. Enjoy your stereo system!

At this point, you should have everything connected and ready to go.

Try moving the speakers around to see what positioning gives you the best sound. Use wire ties or zip ties to bundle up your cables, giving you a clean, organized stereo system.

Once you do this a few times, you will get the hang of it. It’s just like doing anything, the more you practice it, the better you get.

I hope this has been educational and has helped you get your stereo system setup and running. If you have any questions about setting up a stereo or want a more in-depth explanation of anything in this article, please comment below.

Thank you, Nick, but I can’t help but notice that you didn’t include the hookup for the turntable. I have a floor model stereo from the 1970 that my brother gave to me. I want to replace everything on it. The floor model cabinet is still beautiful!

I am having trouble hooking up my stereo system, I have 4 pieces of equipment. 1. Kenwood Stereo Synthesizer tuner KT-87, 2. Kenwood Stereo Control Amplifier KC-207, 3. Kenwood Stereo Power Amplifier KM-207, and 4. Kenwood AV Surround Processor SS-77. I have no clue what I’m doing and would be very greatful for some help if you could.

Based on the equipment you described, here’s my advice on how to hook it up:

1. Connect the KT-87 tuner to the KC-207 control amplifier. Use an analog stereo cable (the red and white type) from the tuner’s “Output” into the controller’s “Tuner” input. It should be labelled just like the inputs for “CD” or “Tape” would. Make sure you have the antenna hooked up to the tuner.

2. Connect the KC-207 control amplifier to the KM-207 power amplifier. Use an analog stereo cable from the controller’s “Output” into the amplifier’s “Input.”

3. Connect the KM-207 power amplifier to your speakers. Run speaker wires from the “A” outputs to your speakers. Make sure you have the “A” button activated on the front of the amplifier so it knows to power your speakers from the “A” connection.

As for the SS-77 surround processor, it is unnecessary in this setup. You would need a surround sound amplifier instead of a stereo amplifier to benefit from the surround processor.

I hope this helps you set up your system. Please let me know how it works.

1. Use a 3.5mm to RCA cable – Plug the 3.5mm end into the headphone jack of your iPhone and plug the other end of the cable into an open red-and-white input on your stereo. 2. Use USB – some stereos have a USB input that you can connect your iPhone to with the charging cables. 3. Use AirPlay – some stereos support AirPlay and if yours does, you can connect your iPhone wirelessly to your stereo. 4. Use Bluetooth – if your stereo has Bluetooth, you can connect your iPhone wirelessly to your stereo. If you don’t have a Bluetooth-enabled stereo, you can add a Bluetooth adapter.

As for how to hook up wireless speakers, it would help to know what you are hooking up and what you need it to do.

Different wireless speakers work with different things, like computers, phones, CD players, and so on. Some wireless speakers work around the house while others you can take out to your backyard or just about anywhere else.

I would like to know how to play music from my Pyle padh1079’s (2 cabinets) and from my JVC stereo receiver Model No. CA-MXGT88 at the same time from an iPad if possible . Don’t know much about stereos…

It looks like you need to connect your Rockville REQ42 Equalizer to an amplifier. You would hook up an audio cable from the equalizer’s audio output labeled “REC OUTPUT” to an amplifier’s audio input. From the amplifier, you would hook up a speaker cable from the speaker outputs to your speakers.

1. You may need a longer antenna cable. Receivers give off lots of interference and we at Stereo Barn have found this can cause problem with radio reception and remote control systems. To solve this, place your antenna as far as possible from the receiver because it may be interfering with reception.

2. You may need a new receiver or tuner. It’s possible your receiver has a broken tuner and if you want to listen to radio, you may need to replace the receiver or buy a separate tuner.

3. You may need an internet-connected radio. It’s possible the geography and climate where you live interferes with your ability to get radio reception at all. The best way to get a 100% clear radio signal would be to listen to the radio over the internet. For instance, around Reading, PA where Stereo Barn is located, the hills and mountains block a lot of radio stations from coming in over the air. Instead of using a traditional radio tuner, a lot of our customers use an internet-connected device like a Sonos Connect music player to tune into the local radio stations. In addition to tuning in your local stations, you can also tune into nearly any radio station in the country, if not the world. Most radio stations broadcast over the internet in addition to over the air.

The most reliable and personally my favorite option would be option 3 because as long as you have an internet connection, you can listen your favorite radio stations with 100% clarity. The quickest and cheapest option would be option 1 to extend your antenna and see if that helps.

Hi! I have taken my old turntable/cassette deck/ amplifier/and CD player out of storage and given it a thorough dusting and am setting it up in a sweet audio cabinet. Can wait to listen to my old casettes and horrify my teens! I have a few questions What speaker wires do you recommend? I have the old ones from 1980’s, do they make better one nowadays?

I would recommend getting new speaker wires for your speakers. Over time, the copper oxidizes and turns dark green which degrades the sound quality.

For the best value, I would recommend getting a 16-guage or the bigger 14-guage speaker wire depending on the size of your speakers. Also, I would recommend getting a speaker wire with the same amount of wire strands or “conductors” as your old speaker wire which probably has two “conductors” compared to four “conductor” speaker wire.

So you would be looking for a 16/2 or 14/2 speaker wire which means 16-guage/2-conductor or 14-guage/2-conductor which you can find for around $0.10 to $1.00 per foot.

I hope this answers your questions and if you have more, please feel free to ask me!

From what I understand, you have to have connect a CD player to a stereo unit unless the CD player has speaker outputs right on it.

If the CD player has speaker outputs, this means it has an amplifier built in. The amplifier makes your music loud enough to be heard through speakers. If you don’t have an amplifier in your CD player, you need one in your stereo unit.

So, I recently inherited an old stereo system. It’s a Kenwood SPECTRUM 1050 AV setup, from about twenty years ago. I figured I’d try to set it up. I was able to find manuals for how to set up the system control wires and everything else, except for power. There are ports on the back of most of the units, which makes me think it’s feasible for some of the units to plug into the others and all drawing from one power supply. However, I have no idea if it is necessary, wise, or even useful to do this. Is there a general rule for how these should be plugged in?

Yes, the Kenwood Spectrum 1050 supports plugging the units into each other. This benefits you by turning everything on with one button push instead of multiple pushes.

I would think the engineers who designed this system designed it well enough to handle having everything plugged in and drawing power from the same supply. It looks like you can plug two units (the CD player and tuner, for example) into the KA-996 which then plugs into the KM-996 and finally to your electrical outlet. The KM-996 probably has a much beefier power supply compared to anything else in the system because it’s an amplifier.

Whether you should hook it up this way is a matter of preference. If it makes the system easier to work, then I say try it and see if you like it.

Is your TV set to output sound to your stereo or the TV speakers? If you go into your TV settings, look for a setting called “TV speakers,” “Audio Output,” “Sound System” or something similar. You will probably find this setting under a section called Audio, Sound, or Speakers. Using this setting will turn off the TV speakers and turn on the audio output for your stereo system.

What type of audio cable do you have connecting your TV to your stereo? It could be a red and white RCA cable or an optical cable. Try using a different cable in case the one that’s hooked up right now is broken.

Have you tried using different inputs on the stereo? Sometimes using a different input on the stereo can work if some of the other inputs are broken. If you have a CD player or an iPod or something hooked up to a different input that you know works, try hooking up the TV to that input to test it out.

1. Buy a phono preamp – a phono preamp is compact, usually about the size of a deck of cards. You hook up your turntable to the phono preamplifier and then hook up the preamplifier to an input on any receiver. I recommend the Project Phono Box MM which costs $99.

2. Buy a receiver with a phono preamp built-in – this will cost more than adding a preamp to an existing receiver. A stereo receiver with a phono preamp will have an input labelled “Phono” and have a ground terminal which you need to connect. I recommend either the Integra DTM-40.4 stereo receiver ($549 retail) or an Onkyo TX-8020 stereo receiver ($199). There are other stereo receivers with phono inputs out there, but I prefer the quality of the Integra and Onkyo lines.

Hello Nick. First of all may I say that you are doing a great service to people who otherwise would not be able to manage their equipment and enjoy the wonderful music that is available.

My problem is:- I have an Onkyo TX-NR818 and a moving coil cartridge. The phono input on the amp is moving magnet. There was insufficient sound level using that so I have bought a phono amp. I thought that I should plug that into one of the normal input jacks, such as CD instead of the phono input as I was afraid that the amplified signal may be too high and damage the phono input.

I now think that this was possibly a mistake since there is a noticeable noise before and after the music on the disc plays. Should I plug the output from the m/c phono amp into the into the m/m input?

Thanking you in advance of your reply and if by any chance you are unable to help me please keep on doing the great work you are for others. Kindest regards Roland.

Thanks for the good guide, but I have trouble connecting the bare wire from my speaker to my Kenwood stereo receiver (KR-3130). After putting the wire in the whole, then it’s impossible to screw the screw on :S

In order to connect the speaker wire to your Kenwood KR-3130 stereo receiver, you may need to buy spade connectors. You put the open side of the spade connector on the end of each wire and then attach the flat side of the spade connector to the screw terminals on your receiver.

A few weeks back I acquired an old Technics Stereo Receiver, model SA-GX100. The reason I got it was to hook up a few speakers I inherited in our new house, already set up in the back corners of the room, with our TV. That part worked fine, as the speaker wires — the old fashioned analog kind, which you kind of wrench into the red/black ports in the back of the receiver (open, put wires in, then close shut)– were locatable and labeled. I also hooked up a radio antenna, and it works great: so the inputs are fine.

The issue I ran into is with output. Hoping to improve the sound, I bought a Yamaha subwoofer, model YST – SWO12, from Amazon– but without checking on the outputs (oops). Of course it has only one coaxial cable hole for input, whereas the Technics receiver has no cable output (the RCA cable slots on the receiver are for input only; it’s only the old fashioned open-style analog stereo wires which handle output from the receiver). On the advice of a local electronics guy, I bought a female – female/male converter, and was able thereby to kind of sort of hook the subwoofer directly into the TV (though not the receiver), though at the cost of messing with the output going to the receiver and thus the two main speakers. I may not have done this right, but I tried all combinations and I just don’t think it works this way.

It may be that I will need to either 1) a new receiver, or 2) a new subwoofer. But the receiver clearly works fine, and the subwoofer is brand new. I would prefer some other solution. I tried googling and amazon-searching for various cable converters, analog to digital, digital to analog, etc., but have not found the right thing yet. Any ideas?

I think you can set this up so you can use both your receiver and your subwoofer. It is not an ideal setup, but if you need it to work without getting a new receiver or subwoofer it might be the only way.

I looked at the connections on the back of a Technics SA-GX100 receiver and see that the Tape and VCR inputs also have outputs to record with. I would try connecting a cable from either the Tape or VCR record outputs into the back of your subwoofer. Make sure you enable “recording” on the receiver so that it sends a signal to those outputs.

Since the Tape/VCR record outputs are fixed level outputs (meaning your volume control has no effect on a fixed level) you will have to manually adjust the level on the back of your subwoofer.

Hi Nick. I don’t have wireless speakers yet. The other thing I read about was using my existing Bose speakers and making them “wireless” with some sort of adapter. I’m looking to do this as inexpensively as possible. Thanks

Hi, I have an old Sony STR-405 Audio/Video control center with B&W speakers. I have recently set them up again, however I only get sound out of one speaker. Both speakers work, I have the A channel selected, the speaker cables both work. But when input audio with either a RCA or RCA-AUX cable I only get the sound from one speaker. The balance is in the centre, I have tried different input cables and even different inputs to the amplifier (I have been using the CD input as default). When I have no inputs inserted if I turn up the master volume to full I get the usually hissing from both speakers (nothing crackly). I have tried everything I know but I can’t get it working.

From what you’re describing, your Sony STR-405 has a problem with the RCA inputs. The receiver only gets sound from one of the two channels (either the left or the right) instead of getting both channels like it normally would. Since you hear the hissing noise when you turn up the volume, your receiver can output sound to both speakers. But if it can only get one of two channels from the RCA inputs, it will only output that one channel.

It seems like whatever isn’t working is isolated to the inputs. To get it fixed, it might be as simple as re-soldering a connection between the inputs and the amp or it could be something more complicated and expensive.

If you want to get it fixed, I would recommend contacting United Radio since they specialize in repairing Sony equipment. You will have to ship it to them and then they give you an estimate for repair if it can be repaired. In total, it could be almost as costly as buying a brand new Sony receiver with a warranty. You might be able to find someone who does repair local to you, but with equipment like surround receivers, parts might be expensive or impossible to get.

Hi Nick, first off your setup instructions are great! We are looking to build a new stereo system. Looking at the Yamaha CD-C600 CD player, Yamaha R-S300 receiver and a Audio Technica turntable AT-LP 120. Will Sonos wireless speakers Work with this setup with home wifi or can you recommend one that will? I don’t want the wires but if not possible what speakers would you recommend? Thank you in advance!

With the stereo equipment you describe, I don’t know of a way to directly connect Sonos wireless speakers. The Yamaha R-S300 receiver works best with traditional wired speakers.

The only way I can think of to hook up Sonos wireless speakers (like the Play 5, 3, 1, or PlayBar) to your stereo is a bit complicated:

– Hook up your receiver from a tape/rec output to the analog input on the back of a Sonos Connect. – Then, link the Connect to any Sonos wireless speakers with the Sonos App available for phones, tablets, and computers. – You would need to buy a Sonos Connect, a set of Sonos wireless speakers, and maybe a Sonos Bridge depending on the strength of your WiFi network.

I recommend sticking with regular wired speakers for your stereo system and if you want a second system for wireless speakers, go for the Sonos. The Sonos wireless speakers are great for playing music from the internet, but mixing in traditional sources like a CD player or turntable complicates how you have to set your system up and use it. If there were any good wireless speakers you could directly hook up to a stereo receiver, I would recommend them.

On the back of your TV, look for an audio output. You will either find a red and white analog audio output, an optical audio output, or both.

Next, find an input on the back of your Onkyo receiver. If your receiver has an optical audio input, use that because it will give you the full, digital sound straight from the TV. You will need an optical cable to do this. If not, use the regular red and white analog audio input for your TV. You will need an analog audio cable to do this.

Then, go into your TV’s settings, and look for an option under “Audio,” “Sound,” or “Speakers,” (or something similar) to use a stereo system instead of the TV speakers. Select this option. This will turn on the TV’s audio output and turn off the TV’s speakers because you don’t want to hear the TV speakers and your stereo speakers at the same time.

Finally, set your receiver to whatever input you used for your TV. So if you plugged the TV audio cable into the receiver’s VCR input, then set your receiver to play sound from the VCR. Some receivers have a TV input, so use that if you can.

Nick, Thanks for your concise and intelligent guide. I’m going to help a bud set up an old system that’s been in storage forever, and I found it via google. Thanks especially for your clear and kind responses to people’s issues. You’re clearly a real gent.

I do not have a system of any kind (outside of a Bluetooth speaker that I use for streaming from my phone). I am going to purchase a record turntable (looking at the Audio-technica at-lp60 turntable). I was told that I should buy an older receiver with phono on it and have found some older kenwood and pioneer receivers at a local pawnshop that are reasonable. My question is that I want to listen to the turntable in different rooms then it is in and would prefer to buy a wireless speaker system. Can you connect wireless speakers to an older receiver like that or is the technology not compatible? Any other way I could accomplish it? Thanks!!!!

To answer your question, yes it is possible to connect speakers wirelessly. You can do this with a wireless receiver and transmitter kit like the Soundcast SurroundCast. There are other kits out there like this, I’m just using it as an example.

Basically, you connect the speaker terminals on your receiver to the Soundcast’s transmitter. Then, you connect your speakers to the Soundcast’s receiver.

The advantage of this setup is you can use your turntable with your stereo receiver and listen with any pair of speakers wirelessly.

However, this type of setup will compromise the sound quality and the volume level you can listen at for the convenience of wireless speakers. If you turn the volume level up too high, it could blow the speakers or the wireless receiver. It isn’t guaranteed to happen, but it could since these wireless transmitters don’t produce a lot of power and if your speakers don’t have enough power things can go wrong.

I have an old technics model sa-gx130 stereo receiver and I used it about a week ago everything was working great, but I recently moved it and tried playing the radio. The volume on high but it sounded so low. I tried reconnecting the wires and yet I’m stuck in the same predicament. How do I get it where the volume can return to normal install of low?

I’m not a repair expert , but I can help you with some basic troubleshooting. It sounds like one or a few things might be a problem:

The Technics stereo receiver The radio The speaker wire The audio cables

I always try swapping out as many parts of the system as possible to see what may be wrong. The easiest thing to try is swap out the speaker wires. Speaker wires can be damaged even if they look fine and this may cause problems with the receiver.

Next, try different sources of music like a CD player or iPod. It’s possible the radio tuner may be damaged so listening to a CD instead can tell you whether the volume sounds low for the radio or for everything.

Try your speakers on another stereo receiver. If they sound the same on a different receiver as yours, then the problem may be the speakers. If the speakers sound noticeably better, the problem may be the receiver.

Since you moved, something in your stereo may have been damaged in the process so it’s important to rule out as many possibilities.

Try taking it back to the store you bought it an see if they can test the receiver on one of their stereo setups. Also, try calling Technics and see if they have any authorized repair centers near you.

I have an old technics model sa-gx130 stereo receiver and I used it about a week ago everything was working great, but I recently moved it and tried playing the radio. The volume on high but it sounded so low. I tried reconnecting the wires and yet I’m stuck in the same predicament. How do I get it where the volume can return to normal install of low? And is it the wires or stereo?

It sounds like there might be a problem somewhere in your stereo system.

To figure out where this problem might be, test each individual piece of equipment (first the stereo receiver, then the speakers, then the speaker wires, and so on) on a second stereo system that you know works. So try playing your stereo receiver on a different set of speakers and wires, then try playing your speakers on a different stereo receiver, etc. This will narrow down your search to find which piece of equipment is causing the problem. It might be something as simple as replacing the speaker wires.

I can’t say for certain what the problem is, but it’s possible the Technics receiver might need to be repaired or replaced. Just like cars, electronics wear out from time and use.

Like Ann, I would like to use wireless speakers with my vintage system. Is this possible, can you suggest adapters to do this, as well as wireless speakers that would be appropriate. I do not want to spend a lot of money on this.

I have an active speaker from TECSOUND, Model No. TS-505 5.1 and I’m having problems playing music from my devices through audio cables.. When I play from my iPhone, only one of the two speakers play and the sound comes out stuffy because the bass plays louder than the normal sound. When I play from my laptop, both speakers play but the same happens, (stuffy sound). But when I play radio or music from an USB flash drive it works perfectly.

Hi, first time I’ve set up own stereo as my dad passed away. Help! I have a new TV, old VHS, Sony DVD/VHS, old Kenwood receiver, old turntable, and old Kenwood CD player. Just bought some newish Kenwood speakers off some guy. I cannot believe how many cables I have 🙁 Can you please make some suggestions? Thank you.

If it’s not too late to help you hook up this stereo system, here’s my recommendation:

– First, connect the Kenwood CD player to the Kenwood receiver using a red-and-white RCA audio cable. Look for the “CD” input on the receiver.

– Next, connect the turntable to the receiver using a red-and-white audio cable with a ground cable (see the picture below for what it looks like). Look for the “PHONO”/”TURNTABLE” input on the receiver. You need to connect the turntable here because it needs extra amplification compared to the CD and VHS players. Otherwise, you will barely be able to hear the turntable.

– Connect the VHS players to the receiver using RCA cables. There should be at least 1, maybe 2 “VHS”/”VCR”/”TAPE” inputs.

– Then, connect speaker wires between the speaker terminals on the receiver and speakers.

– If your receiver does video and audio, you want to connect a yellow video cable between the receiver’s output for “VIDEO”/”TV”/etc. This will send the video from the VCRs to the TV.

– Maybe you also have a cable box you want to hear through the receiver. In this case, connect a red-and-white audio cable from the audio outputs on the cable box to any red-and-white audio input on the receiver.

– Next, connect the turntable to the “PHONO”/”TURNTABLE” input on the C-1. You need a red-and-white audio cable with a ground connector like this:

– Then, connect the cassette player to the C-1’s tape connection. It will probably have a “PLAY” and “RECORD” input and output for the tape player. Match the “PLAY” and “RECORD” connections to the tape player using 2 RCA cables.

– There should be a “TUNER” input on the C-1 to connect your tuner to.

hi nick, I have a technics amplifier, sansui audio video stereo, technics cassette. technics disc and technics turntable , speakers I’m trying to set up. Can you tell me where everything goes? And do I need both the amp. and receiver? Thanks

The cassette player, disc player, and turntable will all connect to the Sansui A/V stereo. Make sure the turntable connects to a “PHONO”/”TURNTABLE” input because it needs more amplification compared to the cassette and disc players. Otherwise, you will barely be able to hear the turntable. Then, connect the speakers to the Sansui stereo.

It seems like you don’t need the Technics amplifier in this situation. As it is, your Sansui stereo will connect all your inputs and amplify the sound for your speakers. To use your Technics amplifier, you would need a preamplifier to connect all your inputs. Having an amp/preamp combo gives you more flexibility in combining features and power compared to a stereo receiver.

Hello I moved into a house that has the whole house surround system built into ceiling and I just purchased a receiver and had five people yesterday trying to get sound from the speakers. There is Just 3 audio video red white yellow cords coming from the floor and my receiver for audio has spots for the regular speaker wire. I can’t see how I can get these cables plugged in and working. Please help

It sounds like you might need help from a local audio/video installer. They will best be able to find where the speaker wire goes to and how it hooks up to a surround system.

Without being there myself, I can’t really say how to hook this up. It’s possible the surround sound equipment was installed in a closet or in the basement to keep the equipment hidden. At Stereo Barn, we do custom installations every day and a lot of our customers have us install A/V equipment in a hidden location and use a programmed remote to control everything.

From the inputs you describe, you might only be able to hook up 3 devices to this Sansui receiver. The inputs you can use are:

1. AUX 2. TAPE 1 PLAY 3. TAPE 2 PLAY

For the Tape 1 and Tape 2 connections, one is an input for playing audio from tape (PLAY) and the other is an output for recording audio to tape (REC).

The phono input will only work with a turntable because it has extra amplification meant for a turntable only.

If you want more inputs, consider adding an analog audio switcher to your receiver. This switcher will let you connect more audio inputs that you select 1 from at a time and then will be played through one of your receiver’s inputs.

I would like to buy some ELAK Debut 6 speakers to use to play sound on my iPod and computer.. I found a way to connect the red and black speaker wire to a 3.5 mm jack, but my iPod only has one jack and I would like to play sound out of both speakers. . Is it possible ? Does my iPod have enough ‘power’ to play clean sound through those kind of speakers? Can I use a jack splitter coming out of tye iPod and plug in one speaker to each hole in the splitter? Thanks

To play your iPod through the ELAK Debut 6 speakers, you will need an amplifier with volume control. The iPod by itself isn’t powerful enough by itself to drive a pair of speakers from the 3.5 mm jack so you need an amplifier to boost the power enough for the speakers.

Without an amplifier, you could risk damaging the speakers or iPod.

To connect it, here’s what you do:

1. Connect a speaker wire to each speaker 2. Connect the speaker wire to the speaker outputs on the amplifier 2. Connect an aux cable from the iPod to a red and white audio input on the amp

You can get a new amp for less than $100 or even less if you buy something used.

HI, we have a Pioneer VSX 453 Receiver (from the 1990’s). A set of 3 Bose Accoustimass 7 speakers plus sub woofer came with it -(we inherited it all). Two of the Bose speakers have died, so we ordered some more off of ebay. When I initially hooked up one new speaker and compared it to the original, the sound did not seem as clear. Then I switched them, and the second one was definitely less clear. I then switched back to the first new speaker, and it was fuzzy too!

At this point, I am waiting for my husband to re strip the speaker wire (which was new in 2012) and see if that helps. Can you advise me as to what could cause this fuzzy sound? Also, with the 2 wire speaker wire, does it matter which one goes in which hole (black or red)? Could this effect speaker performance? The attachment on the Bose speakers has the button you push in, push in the wire and it is attached.

Thank you in advance for your help, and sorry if my questions are dumb.

Thanks for commenting. I appreciate every comment I get and there are no dumb questions.

I’m not sure what could be causing this fuzzy sound. It’s possible something in your system needs to be fixed or replaced.

Try testing out each individual piece of equipment (first the speakers, then receiver, then speaker wires, and so on) with a second system that you know works. So, try the receiver on another set of speakers and speaker wires, or try the speakers on another receiver. This way, you can see if maybe it’s just a speaker wire or audio cable that needs to be replaced.

I can’t say for certain what the problem is, but it’s likely with the age of the receiver that it might need to be repaired or replaced. Just like a car, electronics will wear out with time and use.

As for your question about which hole the red and black speaker wire goes into, yes this could effect the speaker performance. When you connect speakers to your receiver, make sure the wires connect the red to the red ports and black to the black ports. The color of the wire doesn’t matter, but the color of the connectors on your receiver and speakers must match.

Help! One end of my speaker wires are stripped of the coating and the other end is a plug. There are no holes for plugs on either the speaker or the receiver. Do I need to cut off the plug and strip the wires on the offending end?

It sounds like you need to cut off the plugs and strip the wire. When you strip the wire, leave between 1/4″ to 1/2″ of copper exposed – too little and it might not make contact with the terminals, too much and the negative/positive strands might touch and cause problems.

One thing to check before you cut off the plugs is if your speaker’s terminals have plastic caps covering the holes that you could plug your wires into. Some speaker manufactures cover the plug holes on speakers with red and black plastic caps. This picture shows what they typically look like:

I don’t know why they do this (maybe it protects the terminals when the speakers are shipped), but if they are on your speakers, you can use your fingernail or a small flat head screwdriver to gently pry the caps off.

Hello I would appreciate some advice re a problem I have: I have a Pioneer Elite SX-A9-J receiver, a Pioneer Elite PD-D9-J CD player and my speakers are Focal Chorus 836V’s. I just got the whole system out of storage where it has been since 2009 when I went overseas for work. Now the issue that I have is I’ve run out of AUX inputs, of which there are two, and am not sure how to go about connecting my Macbook, which I use for music playback. The two AUX inputs are taken up by the LED tv and Blu-ray player. The CD input is being used by the CD player. Can I use the Tape inputs? If so which two of the four can I safely use? I thank you for your time and kind consideration.

I just got two Fisher Model Sr 315’s from my shop teacher for free as he was going to throw them out. I have no idea how to wire these, any help would be appreciated, and what else would I need to set them up? I would like to set it up so that it has an auxiliary cord or something similar so I can play music from my phone.

I got a pair of Fisher SR 315 speakers from my shop teacher for free as he was going to throw them out. I want to set them up so I can play music from my phone, lIke an auxiliary corder or some thing similar. What else do I need and how would I set them up? Any help will be appreciated.

I like Integra audio/video equipment because they work great, use high-quality parts, and have a 3 year warranty with fast service. Plus, the DTM-40.7 has Bluetooth and Airplay built in.

As an alternative to Integra, I would also recommend stereo receivers made by Marantz, Onkyo, Denon, etc. You can probably find something used for less than $100 that would work.

The only other part you would need to play music from your phone to your speakers is an aux cable. This will have a headphone jack on one end to plug into your phone and on the other side, it will have the standard red-and-white audio plugs that go into the stereo.

Hi Nick – First let me say thank you for all the wonderful advice on this guide and all the questions you’ve answered!

My husband’s friend recently gave him a pretty good deal on some vintage equipment – Onkyo Integra M-5030 amp and Snell J/III speakers. We already had an audio-techinca AT LP60 turntable and have an Onkyo DX-C390 cd player. We don’t know how to set all of this up though. The same friend also advised we need a pre-amp, but we don’t know what one to get. We had a mini-amp – the Lepai LP-2020A+ Tripath TA2020 Class-T Hi-Fi Audio Amplifier with Power Supply to work w/ the turntable already. we also have a variety of cables, etc.

Any suggestions on if we have enough to get started? or what else we need to get in order to set all of this stuff up? I truly appreciate your time and any suggestions you have. Thanks, Nick.

It sounds like you got some really good used stereo equipment. My dad has Snell speakers and he loves them!

Your husband’s friend is right, you will need to get a pre-amp. In addition to being able to plug in your CD player, turntable and anything else you want to play sound from, a pre-amp will let you control the volume of your sound. The preamplifier then outputs the right type of signal to your amplifier which then plays through your speakers.

It has 4 audio inputs – enough for your CD player, turntable, plus two more inputs of your choice – and it has a variable output which you need when connecting the pre-amp to your amp. Of course, there are other new pre-amps out there but they can go up into the thousands of dollars.

Alternatively, you can probably find an older stereo pre-amp and that will work just fine.

Here’s a great tip for finding an inexpensive used preamplifier to listen to your stereo: You can get a great deal on a used surround sound preamplifier and play it in stereo mode. People are always trying to get rid of video equipment because video technology updates nearly every year. New HDMI connections and surround sound formats can make a ten year old surround sound pre-amp obsolete compared to something new. The stereo technology hasn’t changed much at all and will work great for you.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us! I’m setting up a record player at work and I want to run it from my older Yamaha receiver into a Yamaha monitor wedge I use when I have a band playing. I have an adapter that converts an RCA cable to 1/4 inch speaker. Can I just strip the RCA end and connect the bare wire into the receiver? If not, what is the best way for me to connect it? I’d like to just use one speaker if it’s possible. Thanks!

Hello again. I would appreciate any advice/opinions on an issue that has me totally lost/confused: do I require a DAC for my home audio system? I have a 2 channel receiver and CD player. I want to connect my Macbook to the receiver (apparently I can do so via USB but that too is a mystery to me so I am thinking headphone out to AUX input with a minijack to RCA cable) and play music I have on an external hard drive. However everyone is telling me that I need a DAC. Why? I understand that the chip in my sound card may be lousy and all of the other reasons I have read about on countless forums and in countless articles. But is it absolutely necessary? And if so WHAT kind of DAC is best suited to my specific needs? I do not need a headphone amplifier, or a volume controller. There are DACs that cost $30 and ones that cost $3,000. I am woefully ignorant, as you have no doubt gathered, and do not know if I truly need one or, if in fact I do, which one is the right one for my particular set up. Please help. I thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Yes, you can use a minijack to RCA cable to play music from your Macbook to your receiver. This sounds great for most listening purposes.

Do you still use the Pioneer Elite SX-A9-J receiver? If so, your receiver has a DAC built into it. All you need to hook up your Macbook to the receiver’s DAC is to use a USB-A to USB-B cable – most printers use this type of cable. If you want, try it out and see how it sounds. You may have to go into your Macbook’s sound settings and set the audio to go out through the USB or it might pick it up automatically, I’m not sure.

I picked up the following JVC package at an estate sale….No manuals. No remote control?( Not sure if it has one to be honest). Anyway, the components are: (2) AV SP7 speakers, a AX-66 Stereo Integrated amp,TD-W30 Stereo double cassette deck,SEA RM20 Computerized Remote System Controller with Graphic Equalizer,AL-F#30 turntable and lastly the JVC V220 CD player. I have a box of wires to boot. My questions are pretty basic. Component order? I fine on the speaker connections and how does one run the “syncro wries which I’ve never heard of….??? Thanks for any tips or help in advance.

It sounds like you found a really good stereo system. Here’s my recommendation for hooking this equipment up to your JVC AX-66 stereo. I looked at the connections on the AX-66 so I’ll start top to bottom:

1. Hook up the turntable to the “PHONO” input on the AX-66 using what looks like a regular RCA cable but it has an extra cable to hook up the “GND” connection. The extra cable “grounds” the turntable. In some cases, this cable is already attached to the turntable, in other cases you have to plug it in yourself. This is what it looks like –

2. Hook up the CD player to the “CD/AUX” input using an RCA cable.

3. Hook up the tape player to the “TAPE 1” input and output. You will need 2 RCA cables for this, 1 that goes to “PLAY” and 1 that goes to “REC.”

I’m not sure how to hook up the SEA RM20. Without the manuals or remotes, it’s hard for me to say what the best way to use this piece would be. I would recommend asking JVC or someone familiar with JVC products how to add this remote/EQ to the stereo system.

For the turntable, you want to connect it to the “PHONO”/”TURNTABLE” input on your surround sound receiver. You will need an RCA cable with a ground cable attached that looks like this:

The extra cable connects to the “GROUND”/”GND” input, which grounds the turntable.

If your surround receiver does not have a phono input, you will need to connect the turntable to a “phono preamplifier” and then connect the phono preamp to any input on your receiver. The reason you need a phono preamplifier or phono input on a receiver is because the type of signal that comes out of the turntable needs extra amplification compared to any other piece of equipment like a CD player, tuner, tape player, etc. Without it, you will barely be able to hear your turntable.

As for connecting the TV to your surround sound, the easiest way would be to connect an audio cable to the TV’s audio output. Depending on the model of TV and receiver you have, there are a number of ways you can do this. You can use RCA, optical, or HDMI cables (in some cases). Usually, TVs have audio outputs for RCA or optical audio.

– If you’ve got a TV and receiver that support HDMI’s “Audio Return Channel,” you can use that for the best quality.

I am hooking up Kljpsch 7.2 RS35/RS52 / RF82/RC62/RW10D sub with undetermined Klipsch sub I think 15″ sub . Will be hooking up Denon 4520C1 receiver binding post Red black speaker terminals but RS 52 surrounds and future ceiling speakers am running 14/4 wire can I cut white /green wires and run 2 wire red/black to connectors or do I need to twist wires together? What is combo white red/ green / black etc. I Have had conflicting reports rest of speaker is 14/2 conductor monster cable but were out so my dealer said I could run Neotech 14/4 in wall speaker cable with no problem Thanks for your advice Love reading comments

You have 2 options you can choose from for using the 14/4 speaker wire:

1. You can use just 2 conductors – for example, use the red and black wires for your speakers and leave out the green and white wires.

2. You can use all 4 conductors – like you said, you can twist together 2 conductors each for the positive and negative connections.

If you go with option 2, it doesn’t matter which color wires you twist together as long as they match on either side. So you could do red/green for the positive connection and black/white for the negative connection, or any other combination you want.

I like option 2 the best because you get to use all 4 conductors in the speaker wire. But, if the speaker terminals don’t have enough room to fit 2 conductors in each terminal, then you can use option 1.

Hi i have my kenwood krv-990d home theater soround sound and kenwood eualizer 1070ke preamp kc993and power amplifier all are kenwood im trying to hook up all the units but it doesnt work.but for now im using my laptap as my player connecting to the tape monitor as my line in and then line out connecting to cd input on the recirver.if i will usethe receiver cause it has a built in tuner equalizer doest work.since i like to connect them all just to have a good quality sounds it doesnt work.kindly help me hooking up step by step.tnx

Hi Nick, First, thanks for all the help and comments to all the people here. I recently received a system I am having trouble understanding how to connect. I am looking at a Quad 33 preamp, and two quad 303s poweramps. The quad 33 has apparently a special cable that splits the single output from the preamp to the two amps (this I understood thanks to the glorious internet), and this is clear. Now after this, I need to connect each amp to 1 speaker, which is where I run into trouble. The amp has outputs for left channel and right channel with a connector that “puts together” 2 speaker cables (2 wires going into left, 2 into right, but via the connector). I can figure out which is + and which is – (I think) – but I end up with 2 positive cables (one for each channel) and 2 negative cables. When taking these to my speaker, I only have 2 connections (1 red/+ & 1 black/-) where to connect my 4 wires. Should I simply attach both positive outputs from both channels of the amp, into the 1 positive input of the speaker? Or will this cause issues (=fry my speaker or amp?) Thanks in advance, and sorry for the non-professional mumbo-jumbo! -Brad

Hi, I have an RCA-3000 AM-FM Stereo Radio Stereo. I moved to paint the self it was on and removed the speakers. As you said I should have numbered the wires but didn’t. I have the clip with bare wires to connect to the speaker and the receiver. I have tried everyway I can but can’t get the speakers to work. It worked fine until I moved it. Can you help. Diane

I have a kenwood vr 207 and I want to hook up three speakers two for left and right and one for the center but I have it all hooked up but no matter what mode i choose i can never get them to all three play at the same time only either the left and right alone. Or the center alone

I recently aquired a new jbl studio series s312 and tried connecting it to my current home theater system. I initially connected it to the subwoofer port and it worked okay, but it wasn’t fully utilizing the speaker. I then split the wires coming from the speaker and put half in the subwoofer port, and the other half in the front center port. When the volume is at about 50% everything work perfectly, but when the volume reaches 70% or so the speakers starts to get static instead of bass. Do you know what could be causeing this, and how I could potentially fix this?

I have a Pioneer vsx-822-k receiver my house came with speakers built in, 2 in the family room 2 in the upstairs master bedroom and two in the foyer, the back of the receiver has spots for front LR, center, and surround sound LR. I can get the family room speakers to play but not the rest. The up stairs bedroom plays sometimes but ill cut off. what am I doing wrong thanks

Hi Nick, I have kenwood A7j and was wondering what is the function of Adapter input which has a ground connection, secondly what is the long term effect of using a 4ohms rated speaker instead of the recommended 6-16 ohms. Your response will be highly appreciated. Thanks

Alright, so I really have no idea what I’m doing. My girlfriend’s grandpa asked for help setting this up. It’s a Pioneer SX-939 stereo receiver and a Sankyo STD-1650. He wants it hooked up so he can listen to music in his hangar. Both units have been checked out and work properly, I’m just not sure how to hook up properly. I have speaker wires with red, yellow, and white ends. I have an audio cable with yellow and white ends. Just confused. Please help, I know these are old systems.

Hi, sorry to be a bother but here’s the issue: we have our original Panasonic reciever and turntable from 1979. They worked great the last time we had them hooked up. The speakers (don’t kill me here) I stupidly sold in a garage sale for $5 each because they were huge. Yeah, I know how dumb that was now. Anyway, I’ve been reading and reading but I’m still confused which speakers we need to get. They have to have wires because there are no ports to plug red or yellow wires in to. My nifty collection of The Who ‘Tommy’ and CCR along with Led Zepplin are begging to come out of storage. Should I trash this whole system although it has great sentimental value to us? Thanks so much!

Is there any way you can take pictures of the back of the Panasonic receiver and the speaker cables, then upload them or send them to my email (nick@stereobarn.com)? This would help me figure what type of speakers would work for you.

Good Evening , have a small hard drive -power spec – with songs and artist name and song name . can I play that threw my receiver -RX-V995 . hard drive has USB plug . I can play it threw my TV and Laptop . thanks Ronnie

I am so lost. I wanted to go vintage for my stereo system. My last system went off with out a bitch. Could play my record player and my mp3. I have two cabinet technics speakers connected to a phisher amp and tuner. I bout these at a thrift store. I have it connected right. What am I doing wrong? Do they just not work?

I have a question on setting up my stereo. I have 2 sets of speakers Cerwin Vega Series VS-150′ s and Onkyo Fusion AV S-18’s. I had them hooked up to an older Onkyo amplifier/preamplifier/sound processor. I recently purchased a Denon AVR-S910W and a Pioneer Elite SW -10 Subwoofer. I want to hook the speakers, subwoofer, my Sharp Aquos TV, Sony Blue Ray DVD, a CD player, and finally a Xbox 1 to the receiver. I followed the Denon set-up instructions, but no sound comes out of the subwoofer or the Onkyo speakers. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Please help. Thanks,

Hi! Thanks a lot for this guide. I am ready to buy a second hand Denon DRW-585 cassette deck to be able to re-enjoy my 25-year old cassettes. I have a mixing table (Mc2 Akiyama) and a pair of loudspeakers/ monitors KRK Systems Rokit 5 which I have been told have an in-built amplifier. I do not use any amplifier/ receiver to listen to music from my laptop or Ipod. I only use RCA cables. I am worried though that the cassette deck might not work. Is this a possibility?

Hey Nick, I just got my old (80s) Scott receiver down from the attic for te garage. The stereo system I was using is an old AM/FM/CD unit. Its two speakers both have 4 wires, black and red, black and red, which plugged into the back of the units 8 recepticles. The receiver has only 4 places to hook them into. I tried hokking both left and right to left and right. No sound. What do you suggest? Thanks.

hello Nick thought i would try my luck with posting a question to a problem i have. bought a new stereo..sony 700w and a new turntable…audio technica turntable already has a pre amp hook up was a snap….heres my problem…when i play cd’s the sound is awesome…all speakers play as they should when i play my turntable…one speaker sounds awful like the connection isnt all there …you can hear sound out of it but it is scratchy and buzzy now i read about grounding but there is no such wire for this so i am assuming that it isnt needed for the newer models….anyway it is quite annoying….hope you can help thanks

I am looking for recommendations of a nice/yet inexpensive stereo receiver with AM/FM tuner..must have a phono jack for my turntable and secondary output for a possible CD player add on. I have my own ( 16 AWG WIRED) Sansui and Bose speakers..I am not so much interested in bluetooth or wireless.. old school here.. I am located in austin texas and like to put my eyes on the prize before I buy. Off the shelf NEW, with a warranty as opposed to Ebay/Craiglist preferred. I am not opposed to old school Pioneer, Marantz, JBL, etc. but don’t want to pay and arm and leg for.

My speakers don’t get any sound when I hook up my stereo deck. They are not a matched set. I think it’s because I’m hooking up a speaker-level output and not line-level outputs. Or vice-versa. I think I need a preamp to get the speakers to work.

I have a NIKKO component system we haven’t used for over 12 years; it’s been in storage; now we’re setting in and got it out of storage – what a terrible mess of cables and wires! I have a Speaker distribution system, an integrated stereo amplifier (is that the receiver?); and a graphic equalizer – as well as a tuner, record turntable, tape player and compact disc player. Which of the first 3 component items do I have to hook up – just the amplifer? Or do I HAVE to include the equalizer and the speaker distributions system to complete the system? I have more limited space than I did previously.

Hi so i have a problem with a stereo system my family has. And we’re trying to make it work but it just wont i dont know if theres anything missing … We Have a Onkyo P301 Stereo Pre Amp, Tuner, Tape, CD sources along with a Power Amp and 2 huge speakers … I recently changed the Red and white cables but that didnt fix the problem … Do you think its missing a receiver ? or how can i make it work ? Or Perhaps its the speaker wires that arent connected properly ?

I recently bought a vintage Marantz 115b tunner. The guy I bought it from says that thentumer would need an amp for the passive speakers to plays. Well, I don’t have passive speakers. The speakers I have are audioengine A5* and on the back of the speakers, they have rca outs as well as a sub out and also a variable out. Is there a way I could hook up the vintage Marantz 115b tuner to the powered speakers because those speakers do have an amp built into the speaker cabinet. I look forward to your response.

I would like to attach a Pioneer PL-990 fully automatic turntable to my Pioneer Stereo. I have the necessary auxiliary input on the Receiver but my Receiver Remote Control Model XXD3051 does not have an Aux or Phono selection. How can I use the remote to control the turntable?

Hi Nick. I have question. I have a Kenwood KC 207 Control Amp connected to a Kenwood Km207 Amp. These are driving my Bose 901’s. The only thing I have connected is a Pioneer CD player at this time. Since the KC207 has its own equalizer do I need to use the 901 Bose equalizer? If I do where would I connect it. Thanks for any expertise yon can offer. John.

Hello, I find this page to be extremely helpful and I hope you will find it in your heart to address my problem individually. I have been given the opportunity to rebuild a system with the hope that I can purchase it once its up and running. I have no wires or cables at this time so I think you can save me some time and money through my own trial and error. The equipment list is as follows: Bang & Olufsen Beocord 9000 (cassette deck) – Bang & Olufsen Beogram 8000 (Turntable) – Nakamichi 700 ZXE Auto Tuning Cassette Deck – ADS C2000 Bi Amp System Control – Yamaha C-50 control amplifier – Yamaha M-50 Power amplifier – Tandberg 3002 A control amplifier – 2- Tandberg 3006 A Power amplifier – California Audio Labs Icon MKII Digitizer – The Volkswoofer M&K sn# 610506 – M&K Satellite 1-B sn# 111871 & 111872

I have an old Sony speaker from my dad. I think it’s from the 90’s? The speakers have a split wire coming out of the back and I have no Idea what this is called or what I could connect this to to make this work with something else. (Note: The speakers are from a Stereo system and the system in the middle is gone, So there is only the speaker)

I have an inexpensive bookcase system by RCA that is housed in my TV center in my bedroom. It was wired with an A/B switch through the walls, up into the attic and dropped into the master bath. There are 2 outdoor speakers that work very nicely with the radio mostly when showering. The A switch is for the bedroom speakers on top of the bedroom TV center. The cats LOVED the wires and quickly ate through them! I was wondering if I could replace the A speakers with wireless ones and how? The A/B switch is also on too short a wire and that would need to be changed. I am disabled and can’t get up there to see what kind of wire it is. Do you know what kind I need and about how much. I will have my contractoe and his son do the job. I already gave his son your site info. He is going to school for Electical Engineering and this is his area!

Nick, I have an austic brother-in law that has to have music on 24 hours a day. He has a multi piece stereo system that a buddy disconnected to help him move. He doesn’t remember how to reconnect it. I tried to help but got no where. The system has a turntable, tuner, equalizer, cassette deck, amplifier, and a CD player. Any help you could give me as to how to hook these up would be greatly appreciated. I had to but him a mini boom box in the interim…and he is not happy!

Hello I have an older Sony STR-D915 and I’m not sure if I have the speakers and sub woofer hooked up correctly and I don’t want to plug it in and fry myself or the receiver. I have a small surround sound set of speakers and there standing speakers. Our living room is big and very tall ceilings so we like it kinda loud. Also I have a sub woofer with three speakers I asume. Please help me. Sincerely waiting to rock on.

Hi Nick, Here is my question to to you I want to connect some mini deck speakers to a stereo receiver to play records. The speaker cables consist of one wire with a RCA type plug low frequency and one bare end wire for high frequency. My receiver has the phono preamp. It has tape record and play jacks. Do I put 1 left low frequency cable into tape play jack left and the high frequency bare wire into the left screw lug and tighten. Same for the right side. Do I have this right? This is option one. Option 2 is I want to run out of RCA on tape play which I believe are out to powered monitors. Will I be successful? Thanks Ron

Hi Nick, My stackable stereo was originally set up by a professional to play from wired speakers throughout the house. The receiver is a Sony Multi-channel AV STR-DG520. The CD player is a Sony SCD-CE595. i recently bought a Havit Bluetooth adapter, “HV-BTQ18 Transmitter and Receiver 2 in 1” and an iclever wireless speaker, model IC-BTS 05, INPUT 5V 1A. I bought a C&E 30S1-01260 2 x RCA Male, 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female, Y-Cable 6-Inch Gold Plated Connector and have no idea what to do with it. i have emailed Havit on how to connect it and all I get is how to connect it to my phone! Looked on line a dozen times and can not either understand or can’t find what I need. Please, can you explain how to set this up?

Ok so im trying to hook up an old sharp cd player to my tv. Was wondering if it could play the sound thru my cd player from my tv as a home surround sound system but not sure what I will need if it will. It has only and audio out put and a phono jack (Not sure what it is used for like headphones)…please help

I have a GOLDSTAR STEREO SYSTEM from about 1995. It has a CD Player for 5 CD’s, but, the problem is that in anytime we lost the cord to connect the CD Player with the STEREO. I can’t to find the cord in any place or Sound Stores, so I need to know what I can to do, like to make it or replace it for any kind of this.

The port behind the STEREO says “CDP SYSTEM CONTROL” and the entrance in the CD Player says “MAIN SYSTEM CONTROL”, probably the cord is a kind of cord flat or like a belt. It has a 15 pins in “zic zac”…

I’ve never had trouble hooking up components before, but we just got a refurbished Sony mega CD changer and are trying to hook it to our old Morantz receiver that doesn’t have a specific CD input. I’ve tried the other options on the back of the receiver, but no combination produces any sound. We had a 5-disc changer on it before and it worked fine. Any ideas?

Many thanks indeed, like from everyone of your other readers above have expressed, for a most illuminating article on the subject.

Somehow I have, over the years, managed to figure out and set up my Hi – Fi System exactly as suggested by you with an NAD Amplifier, Acoustic Research Speakers, AIWA Tape Deck and a Marantz CD Player. My TV is also connected to my stereo system so that I am able to n play TV programs through my Speakers when I want to and obviously get much clearer sound. Everything was working fine till yesterday when my pre-historic Marantz CD Player (Model CD 41) appears to have conked out and I can no longer turn it “On”.

At present therefore I am only able to play my CD’s through my Panasonic DVD Player playing through my TV Speakers and obviously not producing great sound quality. As I have a Samsung Bluetooth DVD Player as well, and the Panasonic DVD Player is therefore a spare, my question to you is whether or not I can possibly connect the Panasonic DVD Player to the “Auxiliary Input” sockets at the back of my NAD Amplifier and use it exclusively as a CD Player (and disconnect the Marantz CD Player which is currently connected to these sockets”.

Help, my husband wants to use his old speakers that connect with three prongs (yellow, white and red). Looking at new am/fm receivers, there are only two prongs (red and white). Does he need to scrap the speakers (they are hooked up to the TV and sound great!) or can I use some other type of wire/connection?

I have seen these new, portable digital audio players – DAP – that have a 3.5mm headphone jack – kids use to listen to their favorite tunes. Do you know if I can plug a DAP – like Astell/Kerns or Sony – into my vintage Marantz stereo receiver, and use the DAP as a source? Is the voltage output high enough to act as a source to the receiver?

This was awesome. Thank you. I am trying to put together a system that I haven’t touched in a few years and I may have the components for both my in wall system and my stand alone. I have beautiful marble speakers, a tub amp, a cd player, and a Denon stereo amplifier (mulit zone unit). I am thinking that the Denon was part of my in wall unit and I wont need it for this set up. Is that correct?? When I add a turntable, will I need to add a pre-amp? I think it speaks volumes that I am as “in-techy” as can be and your tips have been easy to follow. Thank you! Nancy

I have an old Marantz amplifier model number MA600. We also have a Marantz turntable and Marantz cassette deck. We have a Technics cd player. We have JBL speakers. It all worked really well until about a year ago, when the amplifier stopped working. In your opinion is it worth trying to get an old amplifier repaired or should we just buy a new one. The amplifier is about 30 years old. If you think we should buy a new one, can you recomment one

Can you explain ohm’s and watts when it comes to speakers and compatibility between tuners/stereos and different speakers? I have a Yamaha RX-396 Tuner and on the back it has a selector switch. Position 1 is for ( A or B- 4ohm min /speaker A + B- 8 ohm min / speaker ) Position 2 is ( A or B 6 ohm min / speaker A + B 12 ohm min / speaker) How Do I Know Which position to set it on?

Hi Nick, I have a Harmon Kardon AVR 85, a Denon DVM 3700, oppo 130 blue ray, and Fire tv. How do I hook the hdmi cables? My Sony KDF – E50A10 tv only has 1 hdmi input. And how should I connect the 3700 for best sound? I bought it for playing HDCDs on a carousel. Thanks!

Nick, this was one of the most comprehensible posts on getting my old stereo system reconfigured which includes a Harmon Kardon tape deck, Denon receiver and Teac CD player along with a new turntable that I received as a gift. The turntable will be on an adjacent wall unit as it needs the extra room for opening the lid. I have two spaces on the next unit–one area at the bottom that’s closed with a hole for wires, with a space above that’s open and can hold two to three of the units. I read somewhere that it’s good to keep the receiver separate so I was going to put that in the lower closed space (this is also the least deep of the units) and then stack the CD player and the tape deck in the space above. Do you agree with my decision? The speakers will be placed on top of each of the units. Thanks for giving such great advice to everyone!!!

Hello Nick! You’re a wealth of information and have helped so many tech challenged folks here. I’m a bit late to this chain but am hoping you have a moment to help me hookup a component system as well.

Hi. Lovely to see so many people getting their tech woes fixed on this thread. May I ask about hooking up a cassette deck to my system. It’s an old aiwa. Z-D3000M. Components MX – Z3000M TX-Z7000 FX-WZ5000 SX-Z500 The original cd player packed up and have been running a kenwood one via video 2/aux input with no problems. However my cassette deck is now kaput. It was connected with a ribbon lead designated as the tape input on the amp. I’ve got a replacement deck however it’s the 4 rca input and out put kind. Can I run to the other spare video aux socket on the amp? I’ve also got a rec out l and R audio rca output on the amp. Many thanks Angela

Hi Nick and thank you for your article, but i didn’t see any thing that would help me…..Here’s briefly is the problem,…I have (Mcintosh C28 pre amp) and Mcintosh Amp (Platinum audio speakers) i have tried every combo and try as i may…i can only get one speaker to work….Any ideas,???? I can send you pics of my system if you like !! Most Regards,

I’m trying to hook up the following stereo components have surround sound for my 55″ flat screen TV. Theater system for audio/video purposes. I have a Kenwood 107VR audio/video receiver, Kenwood 5 CD player, Sony dual cassette player/recorder & Audio Technica automatic turntable. They’ve been in storage for 3 years. My first question is. Which speakers would you suggest for 5.1 surround sound. I’d like to spend between $200.00-300.00 for speakers & Subwoofer. My next question; I live in a very flat & rural area. The closest radio stations are 75-90 miles away. Will I need an indoor/outdoor antenna? Please advise. Thank you!!!

Hi Nick, I bought a home that has whole house audio speakers installed in 6 rooms. The only connection point is two sets of banana plug female connections in the wall of a closet. Each room has a small dial for volume, so they’re not independently powered–it appears they’re all interconnected. How do I connect a receiver to power the system and play some music throughout the house? Thanks!

I have a TECHNICS EQUALIZER SH-GE50,TECHNICS STEREO RECEIVER, SA-G77,TECHNICS DUAL TAPE DECK RS-TR180,AND A TECHNICS DISK PLAYER SL-PD665 WITH TECHNICS 3 WAY SPEAKERS A51.HOW DO I CONNECT IT ALL WITH RCA JACKS,I AM TOTALLY LOST.

Hi nick i have brought out my old beast sony stereo system to give new life , i have everything hooked up but the cd player that comes with it is only a cd player i have lots of music on a usb stick i have a new dvd player that has a usb on it to play music I’m trying to keep both my old cd player and new cd player connected to the system but on the back of my sony amp ta -ax285 there are only three connections one for the phono , one for the cd and one for video , can i hook up the newer dvd player to the video outputs of my amp or will that damage it ? what can i do if i cannot hook up to the amp ? any suggestions thanks

I recently moved and am trying to get my Technics SD -S1300 system to work again. I set it up and had all components working ( tuner, tapedeck, CD player and turntable) . I tested all and they worked fine. The next day , I tried playing a CD and the sound quit after about 5 minutes. Further testing wouldn’t have it last a minute without the sound cutting out. I even had my amplifer checked by a local stereo store and they found no problems. So I took it all apart and reconnected everything and now I can’t get sound at all. I have tried connecting my speakers ( Klipsch speakers) to both ports ( A and B) and nothing. I’m not sure what to try next. Is it possible that the speaker wire is bad ? I even tried cutting off the older ends and starting with a fresh end but to no avail. Can you suggest something ? Thanks

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Hi Nick! I am trying to connect a stereo system I bought second hand: a Kenwood CD player DP47, a Kenwood tuner KT57, and a Kenwood receiver KA127 along with a couple of large speakers, Kenwood JL770. I’ve put it together per your “How to Connect a Stereo System” but can’t get it to play any music from the CD player or the Radio/tuner.Is there any help you can give me? I’ve already spent money for the red and white audio cables and the speaker wire and it seems to function when plugged in and turned on ????????? Is there something I don’t know about this system that would help me make it musical? Shirley